Forgiveness
by Laserfire
Summary: Post Catching fire. Katniss and the rebels are on their way to District 12. Katniss can't stop thinking about Peeta but there has always been one person who can make her feel better. Galeniss. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**I nearly killed him yet he forgave me. He said he loved me but forgave me when I said that I couldn't think of anyone like that yet. He'll always be so forgiving. But I won't be able to forgive myself if I let him die because of me.**

**Oneshot. Galeniss.**

**Forgiveness.**

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"Sorry, I'm not hungry." I excuse myself from the table dutifully but as soon as I am out of sight I start running. There is no particular reason for my running other than that I feel I need to. I have done nothing to save Peeta. Nothing. Were it me who needed saving, he'd stop at nothing to do so.

I sniff back tears as I think of what they must be doing to him. Torture. Demanding to know where 'The Mockingjay' is. It's ironic really, that Panem is expecting me to save them from this sadistic world and I can't even save him. I can't even save myself.

I shut the door of my temporary room and look at the window. We are still travelling. It seems like an eternity since I last saw him and I was in the hands of the person who wanted me dead the most. President Snow can shoot himself. Save himself a lot pain because if he touches Peeta, I won't rest until he's dead.

I take a deep breath, knowing that the Capitol's control over me is broken. They can't order me to kill my peers. They can't order anyone to kill their peers.

There's a knock on my door. I turn around and wait for it to come again, in case I've imagined it. About a minute later it comes again, louder.

"Yeah?" I call, expecting either my mother or Prim to be there.

"Mum, I'm sorry. I'm sure dinner was lovely but I just..."

"No, it's me."

I freeze. Gale and I haven't really spoken but now he's calling to my room?

I say something stupid like 'oh' and I go to the door and I unlock it. He towers over me with a tray of food in his hand and a forceful look on his face. I bite my lip and wait for one of us to say something. He doesn't. But he pushes past me and lays the tray on my bed. I raise an eyebrow.

"That's nice of you, Gale. But I'm not really hungry so..."

"Katniss, you didn't eat anything today. I'm not leaving until you've eaten all this." His voice was bland.

I sigh.

"Seriously..."

He walked past me again but only to shut the door. Then he turned his back to it and folded his arms, nodding towards the food.

Gale is a lot of things and stubborn would be one of them. I sigh quietly and take a bit of bread and swallow it.

"Happy?" I ask.

He shakes his head.

"All of it." He argues. I sit down on my bed and take another bit of bread. He rolls his eyes.

"Get some protein. And some fibre." He comes to sit on the other side of the bed and I glare at him. He smiles slightly.

For a few minutes we are silent apart from my eating. Then I speak.

"What happens now?" I ask. His face turns confused.

"Well, "he spoke, "first, you finish eating. Then you tell me why you're not eating in the first place."

I turn to the floor.

"You know why."

"Mellark? Katniss, there is no way he is going to give you up."

I turn to him again.

"That's just it. I know he won't. And if he won't, they'll kill him." My voice is quiet and nothing like me. But I can barely recognise myself.

"Look, there are a few ways Snow could've gone about this. One would be a public execution. Announce it to Panem entirely that if you don't give yourself up, he will kill him in front of everyone. Another would be to announce to Panem that a reward of blah blah blah will be issued to anyone with information of your whereabouts, turn the people against you. You're the leader. You're the Mockingjay. You need to keep your strength up _and _you need to lead those people to freedom. To do that, you need to keep yourself alive. Mellark would want you alive." He adds the last bit and I can tell he's holding back a small bit of bitterness.

"I'd be the exact same if it were you." I whisper.

"But it isn't me." And when he says it, I know that there's a double meaning to his words.

He starts to get up but I cut across his movement.

"No, please. Stay." I cannot believe how weak I sound and he raises an eyebrow but doesn't move.

"Just eat." He says but instead of leaving, he walks up to the window and stares out for a bit. I wonder what he sees but instead I start to notice how awkward we have become. He doesn't look me in the eye anymore. Yet he feeds me. I can't take the awkwardness. Gale has always been the one with the answer and I can't lose him now, at the most crucial point in my life when I need him most.

"Stay with me. Talk for a while." I say and he is caught off guard by my sudden outburst.

He turns.

"What do you want me to say?" He says.

"Tell me what happened in District 12."

I know it might be painful for him seeing as he hadn't seen his family escape but I needed to know about everyone else. Madge, the Mayor, Peeta's family.

"It happened during your Games. It was night-time and I suppose most people were headed for bed. I was coming back from work. I heard the sirens. The bombs started falling, first on the Hob. Then a lot more came. I was close to your house so I rushed them out and told them to get to the fence. I wanted to go back and look for your family but we were intercepted by a man in a car. He ordered us to get inside on pain of your death and he said something was about to happen. War."

His story is not nearly enough for me. I press him further.

"But...what happened afterwards? Who's still alive in Distr..."

"I told you, Catnip. There is no District 12."

I pause.

"I'm so sorry. But thank you for getting them out."

I know by his face that he's beating himself up about his family.

"Hazelle's very resourceful. She'd have found a way out."

"But what then? They'll starve in the forest! I taught Rory the basics but it won't be nearly enough to let them cope. And what if Snow found them? Katniss, I need to find them."

I know exactly how he feels. He feels helpless against the bigger force that is the Capitol. So do I. But maybe two small forces could combine to make bigger.

"We'll plan it. As soon as we arrive in District 13, we'll tell them to have people searching the forest. We need to beat the Capitol. I need to and I need you with me. I've always needed you."

His expression changes. He is nearly happy.

" You're right. We're going to blow the Capitol sky high."

I smirk too, enjoying thinking about causing pain to the one person who started my own. Snow will regret the day he crossed our path. I pull Gale close to me in a hug.

Then I do something I'm not sure about. I turn around and I kiss him, full on the lips.

Gale is warm. He is someone I could always trust but now I'm not sure what I'm doing around him. I never kissed Peeta like this and Peeta never kissed me like Gale is kissing me. But then he stops.

"What's wrong?" I ask but he pulls away.

"I don't want this." He breathes and I pull away too.

"Oh. But I thought..."

"I love you, Catnip. But right now you're not thinking straight. You're doing this to forget about everything. But I want you to love me for me, when this mess is over. Not when your head is drowning with thoughts. I love you, but in no way am I going to take advantage of you when you can't think properly." His voice is stern but the fact that he stops is admirable to me.

He stands up and points to the tray.

"Eat. I'll talk to you later." He voice softens as he moves to the door.

"Forgive me, Gale." He turns and raises an eyebrow.

"There' s nothing to forgive."

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**I hoped you liked it. I like one-shot's so here's another one.**

**LF xoxo**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, thank you guys so much for the great reviews. I decided to maybe continue it, see what else I can clear up so here's chapter two.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games because I am not Suzanne Collins.**

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My night is haunted by dreams and nightmares. I see his face, recoiling in horror, screaming in agony and I just can't take it. This is nearly worse than being in the Games. Here he is in pain and I can do nothing to prevent it.

I decide that I cannot sleep, for if I do, I won't want to eat again. But sleep is nearly as important. I look at the small clock on my bedroom wall. I sigh as I read that it is only a quarter past two. No one gets up until seven, so I decide if I'm going to be up, I may as well do something constructive.

I stumble out of bed, trying not to make too much noise but my eyes are blurry. I open the door quietly and walk out, knowing that the ground is carpeted and it would only make a difference if I were stamping. I head for the sitting room and decide to draw a map of everything I've seen in the Capitol and where the President's building is.

But I notice some has left the television on.

It shows a large District, one I don't recognise, with literally thousands of people, men and women, attacking people in uniform. The people are weird, possibly from District 1 but then I stop. It isn't District 1. It's a place I've been to twice and I have hated it every time. I stumble backwards in shock.

It's the Capitol.

The Capitol people are against its government?

"Katniss." A male voice calls from behind me. Gale is standing in a t-shirt and boxer shorts and he doesn't look too pleased to see me.

"That's...the Capitol is rioting with itself?" I ask. He shakes his head and points to the television.

"Other Districts are there. Four, Five and I think Six as well. It's an uprising."

My mouth can't mouth for speaking. I knew a war would come of this but it has only been two days since I left the arena.

"Don't tell me you weren't expecting this?" He asked, not in a patronizing manner but just a curious tone.

"I expected a war but not of this scale right away!"

He shushes me.

"It's fine. Once we get to District 13..."

"District 13? Is that all you care about? Peeta is there and for all I know they've killed him!" Before I can stop myself, my eyes let tears go streaming down my face. Gale grabs a small tissue but instead of handing it to me, he comes right up to me and wipes my eyes.

"No. I don't want Peeta to be hurt either. But at this moment, District 13 is the best shot we have at defeating them and getting him back. Walking into the Capitol would be a death sentence for you. You just have to wait."

I nod and apologize.

"What are you apologizing for?" He asks.

"For crying on you."

He smiles slightly.

"I'd rather you cried on me rather than by yourself." I smile at him slightly too though I've never been much of a smiler.

He raises an eyebrow.

"What are you doing up anyway?" He asks.

I shift uncomfortably.

"Can't sleep." I admit a while later.

He sighs.

"You have to sleep, Katniss. It's the same as eating. You need it to keep your strength up."

"But...I keep seeing him. Torture. Murder."

He nods understandingly.

Then he leans over and presses a button at the back of the television that turns it off.

"Come on." He says and grabs my hand. He leads me past my room where the door is still open. I close it and follow him up the corridor.

He stops at his own door and opens it. It is nearly a replica of my own but the bed has blue covers instead of red.

He walks in and I follow but half way through he stops as I shut the door. He opens his arms and I walk into them. He closes them, embracing me in a long hug. We stand there for maybe a minute but I want to stand there for longer. Gale has certain warmth for me, even when he's barely clothed that still comes even if he's freezing. He leans down and whispers in my ear.

"Feeling better?"

"Yes."

He grins and lets go, and he walks over and fixes his bed. He goes over to the other side to fix when a thought pops into my head.

"Gale?" I ask.

"Yeah?"

"Will you do something for me?"

"Anything you want."

I pause before answering.

"Kiss me."

He looks up, confused by my request.

"What?"

"Kiss me." I repeat before walking over to him, facing him straight on.

"Katniss, I don't want..."

"Gale, I know what I want. I love you. No, I do. When I kissed you earlier, it was like nothing I'd ever done before!"

I don't get to finish my sentiment because the warmth I've been longing for comes all at once and it feels like I am on fire again. I am the girl who was on fire and nobody can deny this as Gale kisses me. His arms wrap around me and mine around him. We are like one unit. Our tongues intertwine and I am in heaven. I forget about everything; there is only me and Gale and we are united.

We break apart all too quickly. I don't think either of us is satisfied. But Gale continues making the bed as if nothing just happened.

"Wait," I say, urgently wanting his reply, "Did you feel that? That...that..."

He smiles.

"Catnip, I've been feeling that since I first saw you. I've learnt to control my hunger."

I smirk.

"I haven't."

I push him on to the bed whilst he is still laughing and I kiss him again. I feel it all again. The fire, the tingling sensation in my stomach, everything. It feels like I am surging with power. I am in control. Gale and I are a team. We are unstoppable.

"I love you." I mutter between kisses. Because this is what this power is. This power is love and it feels like nothing can stop it. We _are _unstoppable.

"I love you too." He mutters and his admission, though I received it before has a whole new power over me and I can't stop this feeling even if I wanted to. It adds passion and pleasure to this kiss like I've never felt before and I want this moment to go on and on and on.

We break apart for air, though I would gladly give up air to kiss him again. He smiles up at me, a smile I haven't seen before.

"Come on, time for bed." He says but I shake my head.

"One more." He smirks and kisses me gently and caresses my cheek.

Then I get into his bed, curling beside him as his arms come around me. This is love.

...

_The boy, bound and gagged, wanted to shout at the image on the screen. Wanted to crush it underfoot. His girl, his life, his Katniss, he saw, kissing Hawthorne. _

"_Lovely that they have one night together, yes?" The crackling voice of President Snow interrupted his train of though. He looked back and screamed, though it wasn't heard. His gaga was made by a professional of the Games._

"_Oh, I wouldn't worry about Hawthorne. He'll be dead by this time tomorrow. Eliminate all the competition for the star-crossed lovers of District 12 last act. I do hope they enjoy this time they have together. This is what happen when you cross the Capitol."_

_..._

**Hello. This was the last chapter but I will be posting a new story like this set during Mockingjay called the Last Arena so check it out.**

**LF xoxo**


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